[453] in peace2
Occidental begins test drilling in Colombia
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (felixauyeung@juno.com)
Sat Nov 4 21:00:17 2000
From: felixauyeung@juno.com
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Cc: peace-list@mit.edu
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2000 01:50:10 +0800
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http://indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=7309
by JARED KOTLER, Associated Press Writer; Reuter 3:48am Sat Nov 4 '00
In a step a Colombia Indian tribe says spells death for its
culture, an American oil company began test drilling on
Friday just outside the tribe's reservation, the state-run oil
company announced.
Friday November 3 9:22 PM ET
U.S. Oil Co. Drills Near Indian Land
By JARED KOTLER, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - In a step a Colombia Indian
tribe
says spells death for its culture, an American oil
company
began test drilling on Friday just outside the
tribe's
reservation, the state-run oil company announced.
Leaders of the U'wa Indian tribe have protested the
Occidental Petroleum Corp. project for years, at one
point
even threatening a mass suicide should the company be
allowed to drill in the area near Colombia's eastern
border
with Venezuela.
The 8,000-member U'wa nation has likened oil
exploration to
draining the ``blood of mother earth.'' The group
also
fears that oil exploration close to its home will
bring
violence.
In a statement Friday, the government-run oil company
Ecopetrol said Occidental's project is critical for
Colombia's economy. It could produce 1.4 billion
barrels of
crude and bring federal and state governments up to
$14
billion from contracts with Los Angeles-based
Occidental,
Ecopetrol said.
There was no immediate reaction from the U'wa, who
have
staged protests outside the drilling site all year.
Courts cleared the way for the exploratory drilling
in May.
Occidental originally proposed drilling directly on
U'wa
lands, but the drill site was moved just outside the
group's officially recognized territory.
U.S.-based environmental and indigenous rights
activists
have raised the issue in the American presidential
campaign, holding protests and urging Vice President
Al
Gore to divest family stock holdings in Occidental.
Green
Party candidate Ralph Nader issued a statement Monday
urging Occidental to cancel the project.
``The human rights and lives of the U'wa are worth
more
than the commercial interests of Occidental
Petroleum,''
Nader said.
Colombia's armed factions congregate around areas
rich in
valuable resources, and its 36-year conflict has
already
spilled over onto U'wa territory. Last year, leftist
guerrillas kidnapped and killed three American
activists
who had come to Colombia to work with the U'wa.
Guerrillas frequently bomb oil pipelines as part of
an
extortion scheme and to protest foreign
``exploitation'' of
Colombia's resources. The military stations large
numbers
of troops at oil installations to protect them from
rebel
attacks.
---
Friday November 3, 4:41 pm Eastern Time
Occidental drills on tribal-claimed Colombian land
BOGOTA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum Corp
began
drilling a long-delayed test well Friday in a
potentially
oil-rich corner of Colombia, where U'wa Indians have
threatened mass suicide to defend what they claim as
ancestral lands.
The $40 million, 14,300-foot (4,360 meter)
Gibraltar-1 test
well in northeast Norte de Santander province had
been
scheduled to be sunk in the first half of the year.
But drilling was repeatedly postponed because of
legal
challenges from U'wa leaders, Marxist rebel attacks
and bad
weather.
A statement from the Mines and Energy Ministry and
state
oil company Ecopetrol said drilling in the so-called
Samore
block finally got under way early Friday.
The block has been billed as the country's biggest
oil
prospect and is thought to hold reserves of about 2
billion
barrels, according to officials at U.S.-based
Occidental.
The government statement, which said results from the
test
were expected ``in the coming months,''referred to
potential reserves of 1.4 billion barrels of crude.
Occidental has said it will take about seven months
to
complete the well.
The field could ensure supplies of oil, Colombia's
leading
source of export revenues, well into the next decade.
Leaders of the 7,000-member U'wa community have
insisted
repeatedly that the Gibraltar well site encroached on
tribal lands that belonged to their semi-nomadic
forebears.
But Occidental, backed by the Colombian government,
maintains the well site is located just outside the
legal
limits of an U'wa reservation.
``LIFEBLOOD OF MOTHER EARTH''
In the past, the U'was, who view oil as ``the
lifeblood of
Mother Earth,'' have threatened to commit collective
suicide by jumping off a cliff if the Samore project
proceeded.
Tribal leaders could not be reached for immediate
comment
on their losing battle with the U.S. oil giant. But
they
have received strong backing from U.S.-based
environmental
groups in their struggle against the company, which
dates
back to 1992.
Environmentalists even used the U.S. presidential
election
campaign to publicise the U'wa land dispute,
criticising
Democrat Al Gore for owning family shares in
Occidental.
Leftist guerrillas, who operate in the area around
the U'wa
reservation, oppose foreign involvement in the oil
industry
and have repeatedly attacked construction and
engineering
equipment being moved into the Gibraltar well site.
Colombia is currently producing about 653,000 barrels
of
crude per day and exported $3.4 billion of oil in the
first
nine months of the year.
But proven reserves, which stand at about 2.3 billion
barrels, are dwindling and the country could become a
net
importer of oil again by 2005 if no major new finds
are
made.
---
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